The fascinating and sensitive paintings of Ho Jae Kim work on a number of philosophic, creative and technical levels. The Korean-born and New York-based artist has an intriguing process which involves drafting his images on a 3D modeling program. This initial step is a homage to the artist, Piero della Francesca of the Early Italian Renaissance, which allows Kim a degree of precision where he can achieve heightened levels of geometric and compositional accuracy. Despite this mathematical exactitude, the creative process and resulting images still retain “a mystery that is not quantifiable.”

These 3D models are finalized and then printed on an inkjet printer in multiple layers, which are later transferred onto his painting surfaces using inkjet transfer techniques. Layers of overlapping transfers mimic the process of glazing. Ultimately, the transferred images are used as underpaintings in a similar way that ‘cartoons’ (fully realized under-drawings) were traditionally used in frescos.

Thematically, Kim’s works explores transformation, the mundanity of contemporary life, and the idea of purgatory, in as much as our everyday lives have a sense of liminal suspension between quotidian moments, between birth and death; and are often rendered with muted palettes to reflect this more realistic rendering of reality vs the lurid colour schemes of cinema, television and social media. Influenced and inspired by his interest in dream states and the intellectual depth of literature, there is something both beautiful and poetically plaintive about Kim’s paintings — where narratives are hinted at, ideas suggested, and feelings are left open as if the table is set and he’s waiting for the guests to arrive.

—James Watkins